nds, he suddenly had Vittoria seized and
imprisoned in Sant' Angelo. It is impossible to follow the long struggle
that ensued. It lasted four years, at the end of which time the Duke and
Vittoria were living at Bracciano, where the Orsini was absolute lord
and master and beyond the jurisdiction of the Church--two hours' ride
from the gates of Rome. But no further formality of marriage had taken
place and Vittoria was not satisfied. Then Gregory the Thirteenth died.

During the vacancy of the Holy See, all interdictions of the late Pope
were suspended. Instantly Giordano determined to be married, and came to
Rome with Vittoria. They believed that the Conclave would last some time
and were making their arrangements without haste, living in Pompey's
Theatre, when a messenger brought word that Cardinal Montalto would
surely be elected Pope within a few hours. In the fortress is the small
family church of Santa Maria di Grotta Pinta. The Duke sent down word to
his chaplain that the latter must marry him at once. That night a
retainer of the house had been found murdered at the gate; his body lay
on a trestle bier before the altar of the chapel when the Duke's message
came; the Duke himself and Vittoria were already in the little winding
stair that leads down from the apartments; there was not a moment to be
lost; the frightened chaplain and the messenger hurriedly raised a
marble slab which closed an unused vault, dropped the murdered man's
body into the chasm, and had scarcely replaced the stone when the ducal
pair entered the church. The priest married them before the altar in
fear and trembling, and when they were gone entered the whole story in
the little register in the sacristy. The leaf is extant.

Within a few hours, Montalto was Pope, the humble cardinal was changed
in a moment to the despotic pontiff, whose nephew's murder was
unavenged; instead of the vacillating Gregory, Orsini had to face the
terrible Sixtus, and his defeat and exile were foregone conclusions. He
could no longer hold his own and he took refuge in the States of Venice,
where his kinsman, Ludovico, was a fortunate general. He made a will
which divided his personal estate between Vittoria and his son,
Virginio, greatly to the woman's advantage; and overcome by the
infirmity of his monstrous size, spent by the terrible passions of his
later years, and broken in heart by an edict of exile which he could no
longer defy, he died at Salo within seven mo